


only two

by aurora_chiroptera



Series: Shadowhunter Bingo [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Asexual Character, Canon-Typical Violence, Case Fic, Downworld Council (Shadowhunter Chronicles), Gen, Maia and Alec are also mentioned, Post-Canon, Raphael is still a vampire, i guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21609088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurora_chiroptera/pseuds/aurora_chiroptera
Summary: Meliorn brings a concern to the Downworld-Shadowhunter Council. Raphael is the only one able to help him resolve it.
Relationships: Meliorn & Raphael Santiago
Series: Shadowhunter Bingo [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545829
Comments: 5
Kudos: 47





	only two

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my fill for Shadowhunter bingo square "Fuck or Die". Not a trope I'm comfortable with, so Raphael is going to use his asexuality to save the day because he isn't affected by such spells. :D This takes somewhere in the first year after the show ended with some minor tweaks to canon.
> 
> Also, I wrote this at 3 am, and though I edited a lot, I fear there still may be some wonky things... Feel free to let me know!

Raphael was sitting between Maia and Meliorn at Downworld-Shadowhunter Council. Magnus was there to represent the warlocks. No one knew if this reappointment was temporary or permanent, as the warlocks were having some political shifts when discontent with Lorenzo had removed him before a new High Warlock could be chosen. Raphael thought all of that was for the best, he couldn’t work with, let alone trust, anyone who had tried to kill Magnus.

Alec was talking but Raphael had been ignoring him since he realized it was some bullshit the Clave had asked him to share. Maia was pretending to take notes but was instead drawing sea creatures. Meliorn wasn’t even pretending to be engaged, gazing off into the distance, idly braiding and unbraiding a lock of hair.

When Alec paused for breath, Meliorn took the chance to speak up, “There is an urgent matter I wanted to bring to the attention of the council.”

Raphael hid a smile as Maia sighed in relief before leaning forward. “Please share.”

Alec set down the papers he had been reading from, and turned his attention to Meliorn. He didn’t seem annoyed, he rarely did. Raphael really hoped it wasn’t because he and Magnus were playing footsie or something equally sickening under the table.

“We became aware of some seelie magic that we can’t trace to anyone from the Queen’s realm,” Meliorn said, resting his hands on the table and clasping them together. “We believe mundanes have gotten ahold of an artifact of ours. Because of mundanes are involved, we wanted to bring it to the attention of the council for suggestions on how to proceed.”

Magnus leaned forward. “Do you know the purpose of the magic?”

“Yes,” Meliorn said and then didn’t continue.

“Are you going to share with the class?” Maia asked. “Or is it not important?”

“It depends on how we decide to handle the situation,” Meliorn said and Raphael shot a look over at Magnus. Magnus met his gaze and just lifted his eyebrows as if to agree with Raphael. Seelies and their ability to dance around the strict truth...

“I think knowing what the magic does will help us decide how to handle the situation,” Alec said, clearly ready to be the diplomat.

“I agree with Lightwood,” Raphael said, which he normally never would. Maybe that would get Meliorn’s attention.

“Lightwood-Bane,” Alec corrected.

“You’re both Lightwood-Bane, it would get confusing,” Raphael rolled his eyes, turning to Meliorn. Meliorn looked entertained until he caught Raphael’s serious expression.

“It is sex magic,” Meliorn said, completely straight-faced.

“That still doesn’t narrow it down,” Magnus pointed out.

“It is a particularly potent old spell that has been phased out for ethical concerns,” Meliorn continued. Raphael knew he wasn’t the only one whose eyebrows rose. Seelies weren’t known for their concerns on ethics, especially when it came to their magic. “This one specifically, if one is exposed, they must engage in sexual acts or they will perish.”

“So they have to fuck or die?” Maia summed up, eyes wide.

“Precisely,” Meliorn said and looked expectantly around the table.

“This sounds like something that puts mundanes into immediate danger,” Alec said, frowning.

“Which is why I wanted to bring it up,” Meliorn said.

“What can we do about it?” Maia asked. “I assume the magic would affect us as well. None of us can risk our people.”

A silence settled over the table before Meliorn said, “It won’t affect me as a seelie.”

“But we can’t send you in alone,” Magnus said and Raphael was not going to let Magnus suggest what he was pretty sure he was going to.

Which meant, “I wouldn’t be affected either. I can go.”

Magnus closed his mouth and nodded. “That’s true.”

“Are there any more pressing issues?” Raphael asked, looking around the table.

“Nothing from the pack,” Maia reported.

“And we know Alec doesn’t have anything,” Magnus said, waving at the Clave papers. Alec somehow managed to look both exasperated and adoring at his husband. “And I don’t have any updates on the elections.”

“Let’s get this over with then,” Raphael pushed out of his chair and turned to face Meliorn.

Meliorn stood as well, retrieving his spear from where he had set it down. “I’ll lead the way.”

The building they were in front of looked uninhabited, standing out from all those around. It was a busy neighborhood, windows lit with warm light. When Raphael tried the door, it wasn’t locked, and he and Meliorn were able to slip in, unnoticed by mundane eyes. 

Once they were standing in the hall, a wash of little lights came spinning towards them. They were yellow and Raphael watched as they passed around him without touching him.

Looking at Meliorn, he watched the lights cling to his skin and turn blue. He winked at Raphael, before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. The blue dots of light turned yellow again and fell off him. The lights blinked out one by one until they were standing in the dark once more.

“Shall we?” Meliorn said and began moving forward before Raphael answered. Raphael stayed at his back, keeping an eye behind them. He had worked with Meliorn enough to know how to balance out the seelie’s more impulsive actions. 

The smell of decay was heavy in the air was the first warning. Raphael’s night vision was much better than any humans, though in this dim light the world was in black and white. The building looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a while, but that could be any cheap apartments rented to mundane 20-somethings. It wasn’t particularly dusty, indicating someone had been through recently. But Raphael couldn’t hear any beating hearts that were in the building beyond Meliorn’s.

They made it through the first floor, finding spoiled food in the kitchen and a corpse in the living room. It was only a day or two old but was clearly a mundane. Raphael paused to say a small prayer, as Meliorn did a final sweep.

Returning to Meliorn’s side, Raphael asked, “Was this really something mundanes did to themselves or did you just say that so no one would get in trouble with the shadowhunters?” Raphael had no judgment for that, but he also wanted to make sure whoever had done this was brought to justice. Shadowhunters didn’t usually deal with justice, and he preferred such things handled by proper authorities of a clan, pack, or people.

“It really was mundanes, they must have found something old,” Meliorn said, turning towards the stairs.

“How do we clear the spell so no one else is killed?” Raphael asked.

“We need to find its source first,” Meliorn said, and the stair creaked as he stepped on it. Raphael winced but there was really nothing for it. “Once we have found that, I have a bag that will contain the magic. I can then bring it back to my realm to be disposed of.”

“Wonderful,” Raphael offered flatly. This really wasn’t how he expected the night to go, but it was better than hearing Alec repeat words that not even he believed.

Following Meliorn up to the top of the stairs, he heard something. Tapping his shoulder to get Meliorn’s attention, he pointed towards the second door off the hallway. It was cracked, and Raphael could pick up a slight movement behind it.

Meliorn nodded, and they moved forward together. It was unlikely whatever was in there would be caught by surprise, but both seelie and vampire stealth couldn’t hurt. Meliorn pushed the door in with the tip of his spear, and as expected they were attacked.

Standing so his back was against the wall, Raphael watched as Meliorn stabbed the forsaken. The next one that came, he easily dispatched as well. But the noise had attracted more from another room. 

Raphael slammed the first that came at them into the wall, breaking its skull until the abomination disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The next he was able to break their neck with a twist of his hands. Seeing no more, he turned to was Meliorn take out the last one.

Meliorn was breathing heavily, but Raphael wasn’t. He knew some of his body’s more human responses had been diminishing. “I don’t hear any others on this floor,” he let Meliorn know. He paused then, tilting his head towards the ceiling. “There is some movement on the next level.”

“Let’s sweep these rooms to make sure the origin of the spell isn’t here,” Meliorn said.

Raphael nodded, though this was starting to feel like one of the video games Simon had persuaded him to try. “These humans were apparently playing with angel magic as well as seelie. Where do you think they found runes and a stele?”

“A mundane with the Sight might have been able to pick something up,” Meliorn said with a shrug. He seemed largely unbothered by all this, probably because what was done was done. 

Raphael said little prayers for the forsaken, hoping they were out of pain now. He stationed himself at the bottom of the stairs to the third floor to make sure nothing came down while Meliorn checked the rooms.

“Nothing of magical origin,” Meliorn reported, coming back to Raphael’s side. “I did find some porn though.”

“Lovely, I thought it was just on the internet now,” Raphael said as Meliorn slipped around him and ascended the stairs.

“Ready?” Meliorn asked over his shoulder.

“Let’s get it over with.”

These stairs creaked just as much as those from the lower level. As they ascended, Meliorn positioned his spear in case anyone attacked them from the top stair. What they walked into was a level of the house that looked completely different from the rest. It was filled with green vines wrapped around every surface. The same little lights that had swarmed them when they entered glowed along the surface of the larger vines. They had to step over one to get to the floor itself. Raphael saw some more bodies, wrapped in vines and nearly skeletal as if the plants had fed off them. There was a forsaken too, struggling to escape the vines that had captured it.

“Is this going to hurt us?” Raphael asked, eyeing the vines around his ankles wearily.

“Not if we move quick enough,” Meliorn said. “And we know the magic must be on this level.”

“Great,” Raphael sighed and continued to cover Meliorn’s back.

Meliorn stabbed the forsaken and they managed to get into the first room. There was a bed, and in the center was a book. The vines seemed to be unable to touch the bed, but they piled around it. The book was opened to a page of fairies, dancing around a ring of mushrooms. 

“At least it isn’t Twilight,” Raphael said, spotting Meliorn’s expression.

Meliorn snorted, somehow in an elegant manner. “Says you. The magic isn’t the book itself, but I feel it from the book.”

Raphael picked it up, and a stele fell out. He picked that up carefully with his sleeve covering his hand and pocketed it. Flipping through the pages, filled with the same kind of fairy art, he found a ripped piece of paper. Taking it out, he unfolded to find a pressed flower that shimmered even in the low light.

“That is it,” Meliorn took a little pouch from his hip. Raphael carefully refolded the paper and put it in the bag.

As soon as Meliorn sealed the bag, the vines began to shrivel. In a matter of moments, they had all crumbled into a fine dust. The corpses fell to the ground with a crunch that made Raphael wince.

“Shall we sweep for anymore forsaken?” Meliorn asked. “Or let our shadowhunter friends handle that?”

“As much as I don’t want to do their job for them, we’re already here,” Raphael sighed. Walking out the door and back into the hall, it didn’t take long to determine there were no more surprises lurking in the dark. Raphael followed Meliorn as he strode back down the stairs, pulling out his phone and calling the mundane police to report strange noises and smells at the address.

Standing on the front steps, Meliorn gave a little bow. “Thank you for your assistance.”

“You’re welcome,” Raphael nodded back. He did find he and Meliorn to be a good team. “Glad it was relatively simple to solve.”

“I must get this back, but I’ll see you around my friend,” Meliorn said, before striding off into the night.

Raphael turned to walk home, pulling out his phone once more. He pressed Magnus’ contact and listened to the rings. It was only one before Magnus answered, “My boy, everything okay?”

“Yes, just wanted to let you and Alec know Meliorn and I finished,” Raphael said, touched that even after all this time, Magnus still sounded worried and ready to jump to his aid. “And I’m heading home. I also have a stele which I’ll bring by the loft tomorrow.”

“An easy mission?”

“Relatively, there were some forsaken. I’m not sure how the mundanes got access to seelie and angel magic.” Raphael paused, watching as a police cruiser went by. Hopefully to go to the house so families could be alerted.

“I’ll reach out to my contacts, see if someone is selling things they shouldn’t be,” Magnus said, and there was the sound of him making a note. “But you go rest.”

“Alright,” Raphael said, breathing in the night air and wondering what nonsense his clan could be getting up to without him there. “Goodnight Magnus.”

“Goodnight Raphael.” The smile was clear in his tone. “And good work boosting vampire and seelie relations.”

“You know me, always looking to keep the peace.” Raphael was deadpan, but he knew Magnus would hear the sincerity in those words.


End file.
